Backlogged Blog Be Gone!

Well. How to catch up on a whole month full of shenanigans, photos, and adventures? Who knows. But I'm betting there'll be bullets. Not the bang-bang kind, silly billy, the listy kind. And hoo boy, will there be photos. Here's installment one...

After summer school ended, I was super-de-duper eager to get out of the city and spend some time in the mountains. I had a group together, and we were going to go up past Whistler to backpack, but, as you may recall, there was a mountain on the road. We quickly did some last minute research (thanks, Jon, for your tip!) and went up to the Coquihalla canyon instead, about a 2.5 hour drive east of Vancouver...

I'm only half heartedly apologizing here for the mass quantity of photos in this post (heaven help you if you're on dial-up, sorry!), but whatever, it was AMAZING, and between the nine of us, six cameras, and three days, there were over 1200 photos taken (I may or may not have been responsible for over half of those... shut up!). These represent only a mere smattering of the awesomeness that was the August long weekend! Click any photo to see a larger version, or, if you're a sucker for punishment, click here to see the full photo set on flickr.

* Hiked in to a wilderness campsite on the shore of Falls Lake, set up, chilled out, and tootled around. Ken decided to forego the first aid kit for a hammock and water guns, so we had some fun with those, too. (Yes, we DID have other first aid kits! :P )



* Hiked up an ATV trail to find a long pipeline path covered in fields and fields and fields of wildflowers. We hiked up quite a ways, enjoyed the views, the flowers, and the company.






* Came back down and got our little camping kitchen set up for dinner and Jiffy Pop. Mmmmm! SO delicious!



* Did some fun night photography that mostly ended up with hysterical laughing and frivolity and sat around our non-campfire campfire and told stories and chatted late into the night. And yes, way to many "ands" in that last sentence. Oh well.



* Got up for a somewhat lazy morning of enjoying the spectacular surroundings before heading off for our hike: Needle Peak!




* We hiked all day - massive swarms of mosquitoes couldn't dampen our spirits as we hiked through forest and into the high alpine with spectacular views of mountain peaks as far as the eye could see.



* After lunch, we split off - some went to an alpine lake, and some went to try to get to the needle, which involved some fairly crazy scampering up steep bouldery cliffs. There was one peak we had to climb up and over before we got the needle itself that took long enough (and was scary enough!) that we decided to stop there and just enjoy the views - which were FANTASTIC! - from there.




(Gee, I wonder why it's called the "Needle?")




* On our way back to camp, there were some bets made and some money laid out, and Ken (of the hammock and waterguns) made some coin by doing something nobody else was willing to do...


* The evening held swimming (OY VEY that was a c-c-c-c-cooooooooold lake! It burns! It buuuurns!,) dinner (sweet! Pour boiling water into foil bags, let sit for 15 mins to rehydrate: "We're cooooking!"), and stargazing. In the middle of nowhere, the stars were intense and multitudinous, and we enjoyed lying against a log and watching the early August meteor shower fling stars across the sky right, left, and center (can you spot the big dipper in the photo that looks all black?). SO beautiful, SO peaceful. I couldn't help but think over and over, "The heavens declare the works of your hands..." (Psalm 19:1)




* We packed up the next morning and drove to Camp Kawkawa for a swim in the (much warmer) lake and some chill time on the beach. We were treated to the most spectacular display of synchronized swimming (can it be synchronized if it's only one person? Water dancing?) to Enrique Iglesia's "Hero", had some more shenanigans with the Weapons of Mass Wetness, and revelled in a weekend well spent - just what summer is supposed to be.





It was only three days, but it felt like a week, and was the perfect way to kick off my summer vacation.


View the full August Long Weekend photo set here.

And off I go again...

I was going to take some time today and tomorrow to blog about my summer adventures thus far... backpacking/camping/hiking over the August long weekend, working as a camp counselor at Kawkawa (HOORAY!), river rafting with the fam, my impromptu overnight girls-only camping trip to enjoy some wine, chocolate, and meteor-shower watching, evening hiking through an ocean of bugs... but it looks like I'm off again on a last minute camping trip for a couple of days in the Kootenays (the south-eastern part of BC).

My friend Trudy is working out there for two weeks and is going camping on the weekend. She emailed me to half-jokingly invite me to come (it's an 8 or 9 hour drive), and I was like.... ummmmmm... SURE! I got the email this morning, texted her this afternoon, and am waiting for her to call to figure out where to meet her. I'll leave either tonight or early tomorrow and will come back... when I feel like it!

Ahhhh, summer! *GRIN!*

From the recesses of my apparently dirty mind

Hello there! I *am* still alive, and I have all kinds of stories from the last ten days of my life (hooray for holidays!) but I thought I'd share this spectacular little gem first. Even better than river farting, people. Eeeeeven better.

So. I had my friend Peter over to watch a movie last night and managed to spectacularly embarrass myself.

Scene: Two guys out in the wilderness arguing over what to do: Dude 1 tells dude 2 that he's going to disappear into the woods, and that Dude 2 should just go back to Dude 1's wife and tell her her hubby is lost in the woods.

Dude 2: Do what you want! Go out into the wilderness! Fine. Become one with nature. Go hump a sasquatch. Whatever. But I'm not going to lie for you.

Me: Go hump a sasquatch?!?! Really? Cause that's not exactly the logical progression that *I* would think of. Become one with nature. Next step? HUMP A SASQUATCH.

Peter: Umm... I think he said "hunt."

Me: Ah. Well that would make more sense, now, wouldn't it?
*hides head under pillow*

You know you need sleep when...

... you're searching and searching for photos of river rafting in Lytton on Flickr and there are NONE and you're stupefied because SURELY someone has uploaded pictures and so you continue to search and search, checking the spelling of Lytton three or four times, when FINALLY you realize that it's not Lytton you've spelled wrong.

"River farting," anyone?

Might somebody be trying to tell me something?

I've been trying to go camping for quite some time now. Each weekend adventure - week after week after week - gets shortened into a day hike, which is fine, but it's not camping.

Two or three weekends ago I tried to go to High Falls Creek in Squamish, about an hour our of Vancouver up the Sea to Sky highway (which, other than a day long detour through Lilooet, is the only road to Squaminsh/Whistler/Pemberton. map ). The plan was to hike, then go to Whytecliffe Park (a great little park and beach halfway home) for burgers and a swim afterwards. I didn't get a lot of people interested, and I forgot I had a baby shower that day anyway. Ok, fine.

Last weekend, I tried to do the High Falls/Whytecliffe combo again. We had a great group of people, we drove to Squamish, but then decided that rain + steep exposed rock cliffs + narrow trail along a steep canyon pretty much sucked, so we did another, lower, not as deadly hike. This was also totally fun, but again, not High Falls Creek.

This weekend is a long weekend, and dagnamit, I'm going camping! We've got a great crew of ten fabuloso people, details arranged, food (mostly) bought, cars arranged. The plan was to hike in to Joffre Lakes just outside of Pemberton, about three hours from Vancouver, also along the Sea to Sky highway.

A great plan, except for this:

And this

Can you spot the wee little humans?

It happened about 11pm Tuesday night, and they're not expecting the highway to be open until at LEAST Monday. They have to BLOW UP all the rock and shove it into the ocean first. And determine if the foundation for a whole lot of other unstable rock just left the whole REST of the mountain ready and able to collapse at any time. Uhhhh, yeah.

Goody.

So we're skipping out on our Pemberton plans and heading the OTHER direction, along with all the other THOUSANDS of people who can't get up the Sea to Sky. *shakes head*

Oh well, it's an adventure, right? And unless a massive rockslide blocks ALL highways outta this town, I WILL BE GOING CAMPING THIS WEEKEND. End. Of. Story.

WHOOOOOO!!!!

Where does the time go?

Summertime! There's just too much living to do to blog!

Summer school is hurlting along. Three weeks down, one to go, then finally - FINALLY - freedom! I've been jetting out of work as quickly as I can for BBQs, hanging on the beach, hiking, going to the fireworks, taking nana out for her 89th birthday dinner, parties... goodness, I don't even KNOW what I've been up to, but it's sure been fun. I kind of figure, if I have to work, I may as well squeeze as much other stuff in as I can. Of course, that also means that I'm out every night till usually late and am getting no work around the house done... but hey, that's what rainy summer days are for, right?

Erm, or not. Today it's supposed to rain for the first time in four weeks - FOUR WEEKS, people! Oh sweet glorious, glorious summer! - and I'm dead set on hiking anyway. I've been trying to do this hike for weeks, dag namit! Hmm... the slippery steep exposed rocky cliffs that we're supposed to be scrambling up may not be such a great idea when they're wet... but let a girl dream!

Now about these fireworks. Hand us if you've been to the Symphony of Fire/Celebration of Light in Vancouver. I tell you. They have RUINED me for any other fireworks displays. Ever. Synchronized to music, shot off a barge in English Bay, hundreds of thousands of people crammed along the beaches all over English Bay, Stanley Park, and beyond. Streets closed downtown for the absolute HORDES of people leaving en masse. I LOVE the fireworks. Love love love. I don't think I made it to one show last year (there are four a year), and by golly I want to go to every one this year.

I saw Canada's display through the lens of my camera on Wednesday, and got some cool shots. I'll post a link in a few days when I'm actually HOME enough to upload them, but here's a teaser to give you an idea of the cooleriffic display on Wednesday night (GO CANADA!). And below that is a picture I only WISH I took - a view of the fireworks from a few years ago taken from Cyress mountain. Wowowowow.

Off I go. Church then HIKING! Quite possibly in the rain. Good times.

Above = Mine.
Below = Not mine. I wish! Click the photo for photo credit (and a bigger version)

Not a bad Saturday night!

Who'd a thunk it? A girl sends out an invite for a "Gahden Pahty, Dahlink" (said in pretentiously snooty accent), and every girl on the invite list but one declines, and every boy who replies can come. (And no, we're not in the garden. We were, till it cooled off and the bugs came out!)

Karen. Me. Ten boys. Not bad, eh?
Tee hee hee! (Click to embiggen)

It was actually pretty great to have people over! It's been far too long! Good food, a BBQ, some serious laughs. I love summer! *sigh!*

Inspired by a sink of dirty dishes

It's tough when you don't feel like posting a lot
So I decided to sit and write all in one shot.
Eight posts all at once to entice and amaze
But sheer volume of words just might leave you dazed.

So come back every day to read one or two
Or sit down in one shot and read them all through.
Come visit, leave comments, clickity click
To help you, this link just might do the trick.

You can start with the label I linked to above
To see all at once is one way you might love.
Or you can start with this jolly post here
Like the Choose Your Adventures of yesteryear.

Chronologically speaking, all posts are back-dated -
Hopefully not a practice that's hated.
Now, this rhyming, while grand, has lost most of it's meaning;
Oh well, it's sure fun... and it's kept me from cleaning! :)

Choose Your Own Adventure

There's lots to catch up on, so let's do it "Choose your own adventure" style, shall we? Click the links to all the posts I should have written over the last few weeks to find out more! (They're not all just below this one, some are hiding among posts that actually WERE written. It's a game, or sorts. Maybe only fun for me, but hey...)

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A hot summer Saturday is the perfect opportunity for a hike. So, of course, I seized that opportunity last weekend and had a SPECTACULAR day. I didn't, however, end up with many photos, because my camera was misbehaving. (To read about WHY my camera was misbehaving, and how I blame orangutans, click here) But it was a gorgeous hike, with views of Howe Sound, the Gulf Islands, and the Lions.

Through the forest and past meadows and viewpoints, it was a good climb, too, and I felt good and wiped out by the end. The trail was also a little tricky in places, because there was a windstorm this past week, and there were a TON of blown down branches along the trail, and even a few large, gnarled trees - though these were most likely there before the windstorm - that completely blocked the path. (To find the answer to the age old arithmetic problem "Summer School + Windstorm = ???" click here.) But then again, what's a hike without a little scrambling straight up a steep forest floor, blazing your own path as you go? There was still quite a bit of snow during the last part of the hike, too, but we managed fine. (Well, mostly fine. To read about one effect of lots of snow on a hike and how that relates to prunes, click here.) Too bad there was no good opportunity for bum skiing!

Tired and dirty, we all decided the best place to go after a good climb to the top of a mountain was the ocean, with a pit stop to Dairy Queen first, of course! (For more on ice cream and corn, click here!) After woofing down our Blizzards, we hightailed it to the beach and in we dove for a swim. (To find out about another beach day and why the cops should have hauled me off to jail, click here.) Ah, glorious ocean! The water was beautiful, as was the hour and a bit we spent lying on the warm sand drying off and soaking in a whole lot of sunshine.

I arrived home: happy, hungry, and ... hexhausted (like "exhausted," but better, cause it starts with an H like the other words in my list), and flopped on the couch to eat nachos and guac and watch TV. Turns out The Princess Diaries 2 was on, so I unashamedly watched the entire thing and even cried at the end. Um, kind of a lot. Did mention how hexhausted I was? (Now that just looks like I'm a witch. Hex? Really? Whatever. Wow. I'm losing focus here, people. Where was I? Oh. Right... To read about another time I was completely hexausted and a little train spoke to me, click here.)

And that brings me to now. Totally, completely hex... tuckered out, I'm headed to bed. Pitter patter around the posts I linked to. They're not ALL as nutty as this one.

Some are even nuttier.

A tastebud extravaganza

Smack dab in the middle of a somewhat seedy industrial area in Vancouver is perhaps the BEST gelato shop EVER. That's right. La Casa Gelato on Venables.

I hadn't been down there in years, so I had forgotten quite what a spectacle it is. I should have known we were in for a not-just-your-typical ice cream shop when every surface in the parking lot except the ground was painted pink! (Yes Sarah! Even parking lots can be pink! ;) )

We could tell we were coming up on it because of the hordes of people on the corners of an otherwise fairly unpopulated stretch. When we got out of the car, we were greeted with live music from the steel drum player outside and the conversation of dozens and dozens of people.

As we opened the doors, our senses were overwhelmed: sights of at least a hundred people, smells of sugary waffle cones and candy, sounds of a super perky Italian version of Oh Suzanna blaring on the loudspeaker... we weren't entering an ice cream shop, we were entering a circus! A delicious, delicious circus.

La Casa Gelato is famous for having over 200 flavours of gelato and sorbet. Two hundred and eighteen, to be precise. And that's just what they can serve at any one time. Apparently they have five hundred and eight in the rotation. And hoo boy do they have some interesting ones. A smattering of the gelato flavours I sampled: fennel, pear and gorgonzola cheese, balsamic vinegar, wild mushroom, basil, spicy yam, cranberry vodka, lavender, garlic... I'm sure there were more, I just can't think of them. I've heard of beer, jalepeno, curry, carrot, and rose, too, but they weren't out that night. I really didn't feel it necessary to try the "corn" flavour. That just kinda grossed me out. They also had "rice." But really. What would that taste like? I ended up with chai tea and lime tequila. Soooo yummy!

I pretty much think you could have a whole meal there, don't you think? All food groups represented! Mmmmmmm!

We ate our gelato in the courtyard across the street, enjoying the live music, the kids with ice cream dripping down their faces, and the warm summer breeze. I SO have to go back there! What fun!

Well, except for the corn flavour. Blech!

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To go back to the main story, click here.

CATS!

Just because this tickled my funny bone.

I wants me one!

That's one heck of a soaker!

We got a LOT of snow this winter, and we have had an exceptionally cold and rainy spring (but it's ok, it's been hot and glorious for over two weeks in a row now, so all is forgiven). All of this means that there is still a lot of snow on the mountains. If you plan on going hiking, don't be surprised if you have to do some of it in the snow.

Now this is normally not an issue. It's fun on a blazing hot summer day to throw snowballs at each other or to do some serious bum skiing. But apparently there are certian hazards to watch out for. There are the usual creek-under-the-snow type hazards, and the slippery-snowy-slope type hazards (and probably more that I'm not aware of and really should be if I'm gonna go do these kinds of things).

But there's one hazard I wasn't exactly expecting. That would be the "ground drops out from under one foot revealing that what you thought was trail was really a slushy muddy watery snowy pine-needly and did-I-mention-muddy hip-deep HOLE into a not-yet melted alpine lake" hazard.

Yeah.

There I was, walking along the FOREST FLOOR - not snow, not slush - DIRT FLOOR, when to my left I noticed a lake that was still partly frozen over. In the middle there was slushy lake, then toward the edge was watery lake, watery mud, mud, and dry trail. Granted, I stepped in the mud, but still. IT WAS NOT THE LAKE! Except, apparently the ground dropped off at a ninety degree angle and it really WAS the lake.

The ground quickly gave way and I found myself one foot on the trail, one foot sunken in UP TO MY HIP, I kid-you-not. It made the noisiest slurping sound as I heaved myself out in a puddle of mud and slush and water and laughter. I can only imagine what I looked like to my friends behind me. One minute, walking along, the next minute - WHOOSH! Four feet shorter and covered in ooze!

(Just try to ignore how butch I look in the photo, mmkay?)
And yes, looking at that photo, it LOOKS like that big muddy hole is OBVIOUSLY a part of the lake. But that was AFTER I MADE IT LOOK LIKE THAT, folks! It looked completely like that patch of ground my right foot is resting (solidly!) on before the EARTH GAVE WAY AND TRIED TO EAT ME!

I was fine, albeit dirty and with a heck of a lot of water in my boot. Good thing I have proper hiking boots and wear synthetic liners and wool socks when I go hiking (hence the hottie sockline tan half way up my calf, baby, yeah!). Nearly three hours later, and squishfoot Hillary had turned into a rather extreme example of pruney goodness, complete with pine needles between my toes. (Again, the photo doesn't do justice to the amount of forest floor I removed inside my hiking boot!)

Chalk it up to yet another hiking adventure!

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I have seen the effects of the wind, but I have never seen the wind

"Miss Hillary! It's snowing!"
"Aaaah! It's gonna get on me!"
"There's someone knocking at the door!"
"Ouch!"

These are a mere smattering of the excited, distracted comments the kids were shouting out all day today. The wind picked up last night, and it was blustery all day today. Goooood and windy. Branches down, power out, waves pounding - you name it. But it was also blazingly hot, so I tried to have my windows open to at least get some fresh air in my sweltering classroom.

That is, until I realized that there is a big grove of cottonwood trees right outside my window (my summer school is not at the same location as my "regular" school), and the little balls of fluff that are the cottonwood seeds were blowing into my room by the bucket load, swirling around, landing on desks, swooshing back into the air, landing on kids, making them want to chase them all over the room. Yeah, not the greatest scenario for teaching (but it sure was cute!)!

And then there were the constant comments that someone was at the door knocking to get in. I think I told them twenty times that it was just the pocket chart that was tacked there flapping against the door.

But it's when a rather large gust of wind blew three posters OFF THE WALL - one of which still retained it's tack and landed in a little girl's lap, poking her in the thigh, that I decided it was time to give up and shut the windows!

A rather eventful first ten minutes of class!

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To go back to the main story, click here.

Rabble-Rouser

Summer time. Hot weather, long days, miles of sandy shore, downtown bathed in evening light, sun setting through hazy mountain range after hazy mountain range... there's nothing better than heading down to the beach for a picnic and an evening swim. I've been getting down to Kits, Jericho, Locarno, Spanish Banks - you name it - as much as I possibly can these days. After hikes, after work, whenever. The water is cool and refreshing, and the warm sand between my toes and salt on my skin just makes me SO happy! So happy that I start acting like a CRAAAAZY woman. Clearly.

I went down to Jericho with a friend from work tonight and packed us a picnic - a nice crispy salad, chicken, and a desert of angel food cake, fresh strawberries, and whipped cream. The store was out of the regular kind, so I was forced to get chocolate whipped cream (!!!!!!!) instead. Life is ROUGH.

But it was also HOT, and we are both teaching summer school, and it's summer, and the beach, and I was in the mood for some danger, so I popped a couple of beers in the cooler, too.

Oh yeah.

This is only hilarious because of the fact that I rarely drink, and when I do I don't even really LIKE beer (though the lighter kinds are growing on me), and I'm WAY too much of a goody goody. But I popped those beers in the cooler and we drank them and golly-shucks-DARN they were good!

I only had a minor coronary when the coppers who patrol the beach on their quads (seriously. Can *I* have that job, PLEASE? Drive up and down the beach all evening on a four by four? Rough life!) pulled up, spotted our dinner and cooler, and stopped to hang around a bit to keep an eye. Public drinking and revelry? Booyahshaka! You betcher booties! But we played it cool. Reeeeal cool. The Fuzz never knew a thing, and we busted out the booze... after they were long gone and my heart had stopped palpitating.

In fact, we were SUCH party animals that we didn't even finish one beer each.

Now THAT'S what I call LIVIN' ON THE EDGE!!!!

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To go back to the main story, click here.

Summertime slacking

Well how's about that? Post every day, post every day, post every day, then BOOM! Nuttin'! For a week!

I'm even trying to think of what I've been up to... lots of random summer stuff, which is awesome! (Well, and having to go in for two days of my week off before summer school to finish packing up my classroom - not so awesome, but hey, it's done!) Beach, hikes, Playland (an amusement park here in Vancouver), chillin' with friends from near and far... I LOVE THE SUMMERTIME!

Summer school is underway, and I've got three sessions of cutie patootie rugrats. Kindergarten to grade three, we're all learning to become better readers and writers. Woot woot! As much as my entire body and soul revolt against actually getting up and going to work every morning, and every evening I lament the fact I can't spend all of the next day on the beach, I'm actually enjoying being there each day. This whole primary summer school thing is soooo much easier now that I've actually, I dunno, taught primary! I'm sure stories will be forthcoming!

In the meantime, I'm off!

The Shabby Green Door, revisited

Last night* I listened to a talk by David Gotts, who is the director of International China Concern, an organization who works with abandoned babies, children, and young people in China. It left me rather overwhelmed.

There are over one million children abandoned in China every year. Eighty percent of them die.

Dave described the scene at a particular orphanage in China... One worker caring for forty children, many of whom had some sort of mental or physical disability, or both. Four or five children sharing one wooden cot to sleep on. Children with disabilities sitting alone in the courtyard, tied to a chair, left there all day long and into the night. Children going wild when the meager meal was brought in, swarming the servers, stuffing the food into their mouths as fast as they could for fear another child would steal it from their hands; crawling along the filthy floor picking up any leftover grain of rice they could find - anything that they could put in their mouths. Bones that had been chewed clean and tossed on the floor would be picked up by someone else, sucked clean and tossed away once more, only to be picked up by another child, then another, then another. The light of hope extinguished from a child's eyes because they knew that they were most likely going to die. All humanity had gone from that place.

Then there was the shabby green door - a padlocked door to a room where the sickest or weakest children were put when there were simply too many children in the orphanage. It was off in a corner beside a noisy water system, which would drown out the sound of a child crying or pleading for food. Eventually, the child would stop crying, stop pleading, and quietly starve to death.

What kind of world lets children die, cold and alone, padlocked behind a door. What kind of world leaves a child on the street to die just because it's a girl and not a boy, or because the child has a disability? Why does God let this happen???

And it's not just in China. Things like this happen all over the world. Extreme poverty and suffering in India, in Africa, in South America... Even right here in my own neighbourhood. A homeless man died on Sunday morning on Hastings Street. He froze to death. What kind of world are we living in???

I cannot shake the image of that shabby green door. I don't think I want to. It's so easy to hear a story like that and feel so far removed from it. It's overwhelming. It's so far away. What could I possibly do? But I don't want to just slough it off, letting it bring a tear to my eye and then carrying on with my life as if it never happened. I want it to affect me, to motivate me to action. But I'm scared of what that means, and don't even know where to start...

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* Originally posted December 6, 2005

Wow, that was messed. up.

I had a dream last night that I had a blind date, but I had to go to this dinner first, and it was a big ol' party. Two of the guests were Dooce and her husband, Jon. I was sitting beside Dooce, and was telling her that I wanted to buy some postcards to send to some friends. She told me she should give me one of her post cards, but I said no thank you, I already had some and had sent them to those friends, then she started rubbing my upper arm with her thumb and I was all, what the heck? It was kind of hurting, and she didn't stop. I thought she was pressuring me to take a postcard, so I told her about sending them, and the friend's reactions, etc. But then she licked her thumb and wiped it on the spot she was just rubbing, and then I realized that she was happy I had postcards already and was going to pour salt on my arm and do a tequila shot and it was her way of saying that I'm awesome! Ooookay. It was at this point that I told her I had a blind date that night, after the dinner, but that he was actually AT the dinner, too, over on the other side of the room with a bunch of guys who were watching Elvis videos. It was supposed to be Karaoke, but no-one was singing. So Dooce motioned to her husband to take me over there, and I was all, "No no no!" but he got up and literally dragged me (darn shoes with no grip!) over to my date, whose name was Fergus or something. We kinda laughed, cause we both knew we were there. Someone had been razzing him about going on a blind date, too. I watched Karaoke for a bit, then Jon (Dooce's husband) lent Fergus his car to go out on our date. I was upset cause we hadn't had dinner yet, and I wanted to still hang out with Dooce, but hello, awesome! We had BlurboDooce's car! We went on our date, but none of the date was in the dream except for arriving back at the restaurant two hours later, and seeing someone come out from the party apparently naked (no parts visible) but covered in yellow and orange body paint. Then Dooce came out and she had her face painted, and I was all, "Aw Darn!!! I missed the face painting party?!?!?!" I have no idea how the date went, and don't know if it was an "Aw darn" cause the date sucked and I missed a fun time out with Dooce or if it was an "Aw darn" cause really? Face painting with Dooce is awesome but oh well cause the date was great. I walked into the restaurant, and then I woke up, realizing that aw crap! I had wanted to be at school for my final packing day 45 minutes ago.

WACKED.

Off I go...

*UPDATED* Arriving here at school to pack up the last of my stuff, hand in the move over, and turn over my keys, I realized that I also dreamed last night there was a last minute class created for next year and that I got to keep my job.

*sigh*

Happy Canada Day, eh?

Here be a little overview of Canadian History for y'all to celebrate this great nation's 141st birthday. Hold on tight and enjoy the ride!



(Oh watch it... it's FUNNY! It's more like "history." Heh.)

Aaaand, cause a few of you have mentioned it to me already today, here be my Canada Day YouTube debut from last year. Sans sound. Avec mucho ridiculousness. Because my camera has no sound (dumb dumb dumb!), I had written a message and the words to Oh Canada on all those pages, but it was too sunny and it all got washed out. Yes. I'm a nerd. And apparently I have no shame...

Mooooovie night!

See? This is how committed I am to NaBloPoMo. I'm not even at HOME and I'm posting, cause really? To skip the last day would be LAME. So, hooray! I made it! 30 posts (ok, more than that) in 30 days, all (ok, most - challenge me, I'll tell you how it relates!) around the theme of home!

Aaaaand, now I'm gonna go watch a sappy chick flick with Strudel! Woohoo!

And I thought I was reading it for them

On the last day of school, I felt the weight of sadness so heavily on my heart. I wasn't just saying goodbye to these kids, to see them in the halls next year as they moved on to their new classes, I was saying goodbye forever. I was saying goodbye to the wide welcoming hallways, to the staff I have grown to love so much. I was saying goodbye to my support network, to my community, to five years of growth, of people, of challenges, of memories... I was being forced out against my will before I was ready to leave. I was almost grateful that the kids were so hyper, because it kept my mind focussed on other things.

In the afternoon, I sat them down long enough to read them a story I had only glanced at. I knew the title and had flipped through the first two pages and thought it would be a good end-of-the-year book to read to my kids. You know, all deep and meaningful and that. Turns out THEY started whining half way through - "Is it over yet? How many more pages?" - but by that time, I realized I was reading it for ME more than for them, and I carried on.

I don't know if they heard my voice cracking repeatedly all throughout the book, noticed my intense blinking back of tears, or wondered why all of a sudden their teacher's voice was all husky, but I made it through.

I don't know if I fully believe the wise little train just yet, but I'm trying...



I Knew You Could
by Craig Dorfman

I knew you could! And you knew it, too --
That you'd come out on top after all you've been through.
And from here you'll go farther and see brand-new sights.
You'll face brand-new hills that rise to new heights.

I wish I could show you the stops that you'll visit,
But that isn't my choice to make for you, is it?
Instead, I can tell you some lessons and tales
That I've learned and re-learned from my time on the rails.

Fist of all, you must find your own track.
So you can start right away and not be held back.
But which track is yours? Well, that all depends
On which way it's going and where it might end.

Different tracks wind around, over, under, and through,
So pick out the one that works best for you.
Though the track you start out on will feel like "the one,"
You might take a few more before you are done.
And now, with your eyes on your new destination,
Start up your wheels and roll out of the station.

On your new trip, you'll make plenty of stops,
In deep river valleys and on high mountaintops.
Some will surprise you and some will be planned,
And you'll roll through each one saying, "I think I can!"

You'll go through tunnels, surrounded by dark,
And you'll wish for a light, or even a spark.
You might get scared or a little bit sad,
Wondering if maybe your tack has gone bad.
So here's some advice to help ease your doubt:
The track you took in must also go out.

So steady yourself and just keep on going -
Before you know it, some light will be showing.
And then you'll be out, heading to a new place.
You'll be ready for the next tunnel you face.

...

You'll follow your track through twists and through bends,
And stop at new stops and pick up new friends.
They'll all come aboard with smiles and greetings.
You'll have such great times with the people you're meeting.

On the days that you're sad and feel you can't go,
Speak up and ask a friend for a tow.
That's what friends do, so don't be afraid.
You'd do the same if your friend need aid.

You might stop at some stops that you never have toured,
And look for new friends, but they won't come aboard.
So you'll have to head out with a creak and a groan,
Setting out once again on your track, all alone.

Try to remember that the wolds is so wide,
Full of all kinds of people with their own trains to ride.
Just stay true to yourself as you travel your track,
With no second guessing and no looking back.

Once you're on the right track, you'll probably say,
"This one is mine - I'm here to stay."
Try to enjoy the track that you choose -
Stop now and then to take in the views.

...

And when your belief in yourself doesn't feel quite so pure,
And your "I think I can" doesn't sound quite so sure,
THAT'S when to push and to strive and to strain,
To show the world you're not a giving-up train.

...

There's more about life that you'll learn as you go,
Because figuring things out on your own helps you grow.
Just trust in yourself and you'll climb every hill.
Say, "I think I can!" and you know what?

You will!

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To go back to the main story, click here.

It's summerrrr!

Yesterday was GLORIOUS! Glorious and wonderful and beautiful and HOT and awesome!

Summer FINALLY decided to kick in, and what better way to enjoy it than a hike high above Indian Arm, then a swim and a BBQ with a big gang of fabulous people???

NO better way, that's what!

I did this hike last year, too, and I seem to recall thinking that it was a brutal hike for the first one of the season. Didn't seem to learn my lesson though, as I re-did it this year! It didn't really help that we took the wrong path up and ended up scaling the side of a cliff for what seemed like FOREVER. Seriously. It was steeeep. Like, don't-look-down-or-you'll-get-vertigo kind of steep. But after we hauled our butts to the top, the hike along the top of the ridge was beauteous - ten views (Diez Vistas!) out over the water: Deep Cove, Balcarra Park, various islands, and tiny boats down below zipping around helter-skelter, leaving little white trails of wake behind them.

It was so good to be outside, out in the mountains. The smell of hot dirt and dry moss baking in the sunshine, and damp forest floor and cool breezes along the shaded parts of the trail - it was so good to be outside, far from worries and cares and responsibility.

And of course, every hike needs a little bit of adventure... kinda like taking a wrong turn, stopping to figure out where we were, and seeing a large black bear lumbering through the clearing - coming out from the trail we were just on, and heading back into the bush right where one person had run along ahead to check where exactly this part of the trail led to. Hmmm...

A few tense moments, but all turned out fine, and we carried on our merry way - albeit a little more jumpy every time we heard a twig break or a leaf rustle!

After the 15-18km hike (we're not really sure given all the... er... "alternate routes" we took), we were well ready for a dip in the lake. It being the first Saturday that school was out, and the first hot day in who knows HOW long, the park and lake were teeming with people. We took a quick dip (cause the lake was fuh-REEEEZING) and grabbed our coolers from the cars for a BBQ.

Everybody pause whilst Hillary sighs happily: haaaaaaahhhh!

Hair damp, tummies full, legs tired, and faces slightly sunburned, we packed up as the sun was starting to dip behind the mountain, smoke from dozens of BBQs catching the rays of sunlight filtering though the trees, voices and splashing and laughter still filling the park.

Dessert at Mario's Gelato back in Vancouver was the perfect ending to this day, the gateway to summer.

Here's to many more days like this.....

The packing process

Five years of teaching stuff + a whole lot of inherited stuff + stuff not yet dealt with from a recently-finished school year = one very giant mess of stuff requiring a day and a half next week to finish packing up. Wow.

Click any photo to embiggen (that's for you, Katrina! ;) ).





*Sigh* I liked it better when it was full of the anticipation of a new year ( <--- click for newly posted pics), not the sadness of goodbyes...

Through a lens darkly

Folks, I. Am. Sad. And kind of irritated. And disappointed. My camera is sick. My beauteous lovely wonderful camera that I love. Taking photos is no longer fun. In fact, it's a royal pain in the patootie.

On the last day of school, I was setting up to take a photo of my class. I wanted to be in it, so I got it all set up on the bookshelf facing the carpet area in my room. It was perched quite solidly, though the tip of the lens was off the shelf a little so that we didn't end up with a big strip of shelf in the photo. I set the timer and called the kids to the carpet. I was standing next to my camera so that no-one would bump it off the shelf.

Did I mention it was the last day of school? The kids are CRAZY on the last day of school. Cuh-RAZY. When I called them, a few little orangutans came FLYING to the carpet so fast that they bumped the shelf. The bump made the shelf rock forwards and back. The rocking forwards and back made my camera fall four feet onto the floor right onto its nose (lens). The falling on it's nose broke a plastic rimmy bit off the inside of the lens, rendering the lens useless through a littlve over half of it's range, and screwing with it's brain for the semi-useful other half.

Dangit!

Now, thankfully, this isn't an uber-fancy expensive lens. It's just the standard mediocre kit lens the camera came with, but still to replace it it's gonna be $200 new. And I don't really feel like shelling out two hundred beans for another mediocre lens. Which means I'm going to be upgrading waaaay earlier than I thought I would.

I'd like to blame the kids, but really, I should have been more careful, I guess. It's irritating.

Anyone got a Nikon 18-55 lens they're interested in getting rid of??? Oh, there have been SO many photos I've wanted to take recently. Dumb camera.

Folks, do NOT drop your cameras. Or let them loose anywhere near stampeding orangutans. Wah!

____________________
To go back to the main story, click here.

Last days

Last day with the kids was today. Last day with the staff is tomorrow. I'll blog more later. Right now there's too much to do, too much to say, too much to feel...

SO blessed

See these three people? They have SAVED MY LIFE. And they are AWESOME. And selfless and wonderful and helpful and fun and did I mention AWESOME?

I emailed a few friends to see if anyone would possibly be interested in helping me pack up my classroom one evening this week. I kinda didn't expect anyone to reply, cause, hello? Not exactly the funnest proposition in the whole wide world. But Harrison and Hary (Harrison, Hary, and Hillary! Hugo was gonna come, too, but was tied up. Shucks! We coulda been the 4-H club! hehe!) both volunteered and came to my classroom on Monday to help me sort, file, take down posters, get kids work ready to hand back, etc etc etc. Between the two of them, they spent SIX HOURS helping me get all kinds of work finished. They BLEW me away, and I am SO grateful for their help. They did SO. MUCH. WORK.

And then today after school, I was in the hallway and heard my phone ringing, so I ran in to grab it and it was Jenn. She told me that she had seen my Facebook status (Hillary is packing, packing, packing, and starting to say her goodbyes at the school she's loved for the last five years...), and knew that if SHE was packing up, she'd want some help, and did I want her to come by and help out for a few hours. !!!!!! I was so touched! AND, she brought me a frappucino!

Seriously, I would NOT have been able to get everything done by the end of this week if it hadn't have been for them. It just simply wouldn't. have. happened (it hasn't totally happened yet, but it's possible now because of them!).

So Harrison, Jenn, and Hary, if you're reading this (I hope I'm not embarrassing you!) YOU ARE MY HEROES! Your thoughtfulness and generosity are SO appreciated. Thank you for giving your time for me, and for being a living example of what friendship is all about!

I am SO blessed!

Daily Post

This is the lamest excuse for a post I've ever seen, but there are some days when you just don't care. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

The end.

... ok, not the end, cause twenty minutes later I totally feel like I'm cheating. So here's some youtube awesomeness. Enjoy!



"It's hot, steamy food in your face right now..."

And also? My whole house smells like skunk cause one sprayed just outside my door. Good times.

Life at MySchool...

It's been a beautiful life
Oh I've been along for one hell of a ride
And even though I may be fallin' apart, oh
It's been a beautiful life*

Three more days, plus one more admin day where we'll all have breakfast together, then go off our separate ways for the summer.

Except I won't be coming back in the fall.


This week is so jammed full of stuff I have to do... packing up my classroom, getting my house ready for a few guests on Friday night, grocery shopping and packing for a camping trip this coming weekend... it's all going to be one big blur and then it will be over, and I won't even know what's happening. THREE MORE DAYS. That's not enough time!!! There are kids I still want to see, staff I still want to work with... a community I still want to be a part of...

I feel so numb during the day. I'm running on autopilot just to get things done: coming in before 8am, staying till after 8pm, working through recess, working through lunch. Teaching, packing, cleaning, sorting, filing. But it's times like now, where I sit here and realize, pardon the language, holy SHIT, there are only THREE. DAYS. LEFT. when I just lose it emotionally.

I really am falling apart...

_________________
* from "Beautiful Life" by Doc Walker

Around the house...

There are so SO many things I want to get done around my house. I rent, so it's not like I'm renovating, just year end organizing and general make-nicer-izing. Summer's coming (four more teaching days... though I'm not looking forward to the end this year, that's for sure), which means I'll have more TIME to actually get anything DONE around here.

* Sort and file paid bills
* Re-organize bookshelf and filing cabinet
* Replace overhead light fixtures in bedroom, kitchen, living room
* Sort (and get rid of!!!) massive pile of paper on my desk
* Clean out storage room
* Chose photos and design photo wall to go over my couch
* Print out, frame, and hang photos
* Make blog book (ok, that's not really around the house, but it's still a "to do" item)
* Back up hard drive
* Paint bedroom??? (Which would have been a much smarter thing to do BEFORE I bought my new set of bedroom furniture! D'Oh!)
* Buy plants and actually have flowers in my pots outside, not dead weedy things from last year

...

Ugh! That's enough! I'm overwhelmed already (ok, ok, I know that's not a lot compared to some of your lists, but it's still a lot, and I'm still teaching summer school, and by golly, I do'nt think you realize how much PAPER is in my house right now! Gaaaah!)! But boy will it be nice to have TIME to do this stuff! And I'll actually be around this summer to enjoy it once it's all done! Hooray!

Work Day!

We painted floors and primed and painted walls in the cottages today. I decided to paint the "I *heart* Kawkawa" message on the wall first. Um, it still shows through the paint. I'm hoping a second coat will take care of that. Hehehe... whoops!

Breaking the news

I wasn't sure how or when I was going to tell my kids that I wasn't coming back next year, but about twenty minutes to home time I saw that the newsletter that was going home had a list of the teachers who were leaving the school front and centre. I didn't want the kidlets to find out from the newsletter, so I sat them down just before they ate their lunch...

"So boys and girls, I have something to talk to you about, and it's kinda sad... Sometimes teachers have to leave their schools and go to new schools... and that's what I have to do in September. I won't be coming back to OurSchool next year. I'll be going to NewSchool to teach a brand new class of grade ones and twos."

A collective gasp went up as I told them, and it was all I could do to keep the tears in as the barraged me with questions...

- But why?
- Don't go!
- Will you come visit us?
- But why do you have to go? [good question!]

"Well, this year there are 29 classes at our school, so there are 29 teachers. Next year there are only going to be 28 classes, so one teacher needs to move to a new school. It's sad that I'm leaving, but also happy because I get to meet all kinds of new teacher friends and new wonderful students just like you! I'll do my best to come back and visit."

- But why you?
- Did you want to leave us? [OH, my breaking heart!]

"Oh, no! No, no no! I would love to stay here and get to visit you in your new classes next year and say hello in the hallways! I'm going to miss you very much! It's just that sometimes teachers don't have a choice..."

- Well then who chooses?

"Oh, nobody really chooses. There's just a list of teachers..." How do you explain seniority rules and aggravating school board decisions to seven year olds??? You just don't.

There were all kinds of hands still up, but they needed to eat so they'd be ready to go by the bell, so I told them that they could ask me more questions while they ate. Little did I expect to be barraged by hugs as they went to their tables!

But it was the quiet comments, the kids who came up to me and told me in hushed voices and in their own little ways that they would miss me that made me nearly lose it.

- Miss Hillary, I'm going to make you a card all about you and me and OurSchool and my three friends in our class... but I'm gonna be sad when I give it to you.
- Miss Hillary, I'm sad. I might cry on the last day of school.
- Hey! I have an idea for a field trip! You should tell the new teacher to take us on a field trip to your new school!
- Should I get you a present for the last day of school?
- Will you come back to visit us? I don't think I'll like it very much if you're not here!
- I'm going to miss you, Miss Hillary! You're the best teacher I ever had in my whole entire life! [said a grade one student, who's had exactly one teacher before me! :P ]


Aaaaand my eyes welled up over and over and over this afternoon. Next week is gonna be killer...

Loss surrounds me...

My position at my school... Rita... a relationship*... my support network at work... my students... and now on TV I just watched Meredeth and Derrek put down their dog, reminding me of my dear sweet Lucy last year... and Izzy's about to go in and find Denney dead... and it's just a stupid TV show and I know it's cause I'm so over tired and burned out and stressed, but it's bringing everything to a head and sending me over the edge and I just. can't. stop. crying.
______
* not a guy thing

Report Card wording

(yeah yeah... three posts today. Let's just say that the number of posts is directly proportional to the stress of a deadline... or, er, missed deadline, as the case may be.)

Ah, it's a tricky subject, this. How to say what you need to say diplomatically, creatively, uniquely. "Johnny/Sally/Katie/Mikey/Insert-Name-Here" has had a very good term. It's been a pleasure to have her/him in my class. Have a great summer." That comment just won't do. So I end up getting creative. Lots of synonyms, lots of positive wording. I'm direct, too, but sometimes you need to soften the message a little.

So let's play a little game, shall we? Here are some softened-up, diplomatic report card comments that teachers have used. Can you guess what they really mean?

1. "___ is a very enthusiastic participant in class discussions."
2. "I will miss ___'s interesting and unique ideas."
3. "___ is slowly beginning to show an ability to use words to solve his/her problems."
4. "___ continues to work on using positive language and encouragement with his/her peers."
5. "Good luck in grade two/three/four/etc!"

And let me just say that one of the funniest things after I began writing report cards was going back to MY old reports and reading what MY teachers had to say about ME. If I manage to track it down (it's MIA after I read it to my grade 5's on the final day of school last year), I'll show you what was written in the comments from some of MY report cards. Now that I speak Teacherese, I actually KNOW what they were saying, and let me tell you, it's pretty funny!

_______________
PS. What does this have to do with home, you ask? Well not much. I write report cards in part at home? I have my old report cards at home? Stretching it? Oh well. I'm ok with being stretchy. ;)
_______________
PPS. Hey, you! Yes you! Leave a comment! I know you're reading, play along, it's easy! Or just say hello. Or whatever. Doesn't matter if you're sitting at home, at work... or even a library. Comments make me happy! Send some lovin' my way! :-)

Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas!

(yeah yeah... three posts today. Let's just say that the number of posts is directly proportional to the stress of a deadline... or, er, missed deadline, as the case may be.)

So I came accross this article about a new monument just now (magically, cause really I'm writing report cards and scoring Early Literacy Project writing samples...) and it cracked me up!

From the article: The 363-kilogram bronze syringe bulb held by three angels honours the enema... Spa director Alexander Kharchenko ... calls the monument a "successful work of art" that pays tribute to what is "almost a symbol of our region..."

SPF 100

Now normally I defend Vancouver to the death when people say all it ever does is rain. IT DOESN'T! There's sun here, too! And the rain only drizzles, and not all day, and not every day! This spring, however, is getting ridiculous. Grey and cold and sometimes wet, and gross, gross, gross. Today, for example. It. Is. Cold. And also? It. Is. Raining (that grey, drizzly, off-an-on Vancouver rain). Good thing half our school is going to the BEACH today for our annual Beach Day field trip.

I'm packing my parka.

Creepy *UPDATED*

Is anyone other than me incredibly creeped out by the fact that people keep finding random human feet in sneakers washing up on the shore all over BC??? They just found a fifth one. EW.

*UPDATE*
Sarah beat me to the update in the comments, but they found a sixth foot today, just, what, two days after the fifth? They've even got an interactive map of where they all were found. Weeeeird.

La Música!

It all began towards the end of grade four, when the band teacher came into our class to find out who would like to join the band the next year. I was definitely in! I had no idea what I wanted to play, so I picked the clarinet, the same instrument my dad played when HE was in school.

I got my clarinet - a good ol' plastic rent-to-own Yamaha - and my friend Cathryn and I experimented and explored and taught ourselves how to play all kinds of new tunes. I remember being really proud that we figured out part of the Muppets theme song, and a variety of other tunes.

Band began, and I was hooked. I practiced and practiced, loving the cool songs our band teacher had us play. I mean, Captain Video? Hello! Who DOESN'T want to play an outer space overture with all kinds of video/space sound effects played on a cassette tape behind the music? Oh sweet YouTube, if only you had a clip of that awesome, awesome song!

Regular ol' school band wasn't enough for me, and in grade six or seven, I also joined the North Vancouver Youth Band, a community concert and marching band. Band geek-dom, here I come!

In high school I took up the alto sax for jazz band (and had a brief stint on the trombone), and by grade 10, I was in the junior concert band, the junior jazz band, the senior concert band, the senior jazz band, AND the North Vancouver Youth Band. I did fund raisers for band trips, went on tour most springs/summers, went to band camps, marched in countless parades, and went early one Monday a month for sectionals (an intensive lesson with just the instruments in your section - my sectional leader was Gene Ramsbottom, a fan-TASTIC clarinet player and man with pretty much the awesomest name ever. Watch, he's gonna google himself and find this this post now. Mr. Ramsbottom, you were a FABULOUS teacher. I learned SO much from you!).

When high school ended, I tried to keep up with the NVYB and joined the Capilano College concert band, but with commuting an hour and a half each way to university, and piles and piles of homework, that didn't last past first year. My clarinet began collecting dust in my closet, though I would take it out periodically and play through some of the old music I still had kicking around.

I miss being in band - that sense of being a part of something that is greater than you, that expressiveness, that sense of accomplishment when a piece is finally performance-ready. One day, I keep telling myself, I'll go back to it. Join a community band. Play again. It's going to take a lot of practicing on my own to get back to the point where I'd be anywhere NEAR ready to do that again...

Music, however, hasn't disappeared from my life completely. When I first started teaching, I started as a music teacher. Not really qualified except that I read music, I went to workshop after workshop, seminar after seminar, and learned as I went. It was challenging, but still so fun, as I got to participate in music again, and, more importantly, got to try to make kids love making music, too!

One of my favourite things about teaching music was that final moment, when all the boring, repetitive xylophone parts that we'd been practicing for WEEKS finally were ready to put together. The kids would be at the breaking point, complaining about "Why do we have to do this AGAIN???" and "I'm booooored!" but then! Then we'd put it all together, and the harmonies, the way each part fit together - that big picture - finally became apparent. I could see the looks of amazement on their faces as suddenly that boring old "doot-rest-doot-rest-doot-doot-doot" pattern came alive around them. They'd be concentrating their little heads off, then at the end, looked around in wonder as I got to exclaim, "Did you hear that? You did that! You made that! That was wonderful! That! was music!!!" They would look SO proud of themselves, and I knew that all those weeks of boring (for them), frustrating (for me) music classes paid off!

I still try to keep making music a little bit. Through teaching music, I discovered African drumming, and though I haven't really done a lot of it, I jump at any chance I can get to take a workshop! I bought myself a djembe at a county fair in Washington a few years ago, and I scooped the "family guitar" for my music ed class at university, and have had it ever since. I've been (very slowly and sporadically) teaching myself guitar, and though I'm not very good and I rarely play in front of anyone, it's something I enjoy as a stress reliever.

I've collected a variety of other random instruments over the years, too. I have my sister's flute sitting in my closet alongside my clarinet, for example. Every now and then I'll take it out and fiddle with it. I've figured out a major scale and a few simple tunes, but that's about it. And that fun little froggie in the photo? He's a guiro (wee'-ro) my friend gave to me after a trip to Thailand. It's good for some fun percussion every now and then! The gourd I bought at the same time as the djembe, cause I thought it was cool. Hey! An African instrument! I must have it! In retrospect, the plastic pony beads don't exactly do much for authenticity, and it's pretty ear-piercingly loud when you shake it, so needless to say, it hasn't gotten a lot of use. Oh well! The spoons are from when I did my language program in Chicoutimi, Quebec back in 2001. I bought them in Quebec City as a souvenir. I played them every night at campfire at Kawkawa later that summer, and by the end of the summer, had worn a hole right though my jeans because of it! I can play a mean spoon, let me tell you! Finger rolls are my forte! hehehe!

I guess once a band geek, always a band geek, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's something that I enjoy, and even when I don't do it well or often, it still is such a great outlet for me to be creative, to lose myself, to hone a skill, to relax. I hope it continues to be part of my life for a very long time to come!

It's official

I just formally accepted the job and filled in the order form for boxes, packing tape, and movers to move all my stuff. Oy vey.

More on the job front...

While it's still not entirely clear what's going to happen with my job next year, it's getting to be more and more definite. It looks like I'll be leaving my school. There doesn't seem to be any movement with the school board in letting the other teacher declare herself surplus, so it looks like it'll be me who's packing up and moving on in less than two weeks.

At least I know now where it is I'll be moving on. Though still uncertain about whether or not I'd need to, I went through the whole application process - just under twenty applications, three interviews, and I was offered two jobs to choose between, both at the school I preferred out of the two schools I interviewed at. It looks like I'll be teaching another grade 1/2 split next year - I have to call the principal tomorrow morning and officially accept the offer. On the bright side of things, I'm glad that I'll be doing the same grade level next year. I at least have a year of doing this under my belt, and I feel like I can take and improve on what I started on this year. AND, it's another school with a modified week, which means I'll still be done at noon on Fridays (so I can stay till 6pm working... insane-o me). The school is a quarter the size of the school I'm at now - so crazy! But I think it'll be good.

Now over the next two weeks comes the part I am SO not looking forward to - the packing up of all my stuff... the goodbyes... leaving the school I've called home for the last five years - my first school, the staff and students I love so much, the place my heart has grown so attached to.

I'm going to be a big ol' blubbering mess for the next two weeks, let me tell you. Good thing you can't see me, cause it's starting already...

I love my daddy!

Quick post today - I thought I'd share a song with you. I've loved this song since the first time I heard it... it has an almost dreamy characteristic to it. Cheesy way of making the "Home" theme? Perhaps. But I DO really like this song. It's just conveeeenient that it fits the theme! Enjoy!

Come on over!

Welcome! It's Friday evening, thanks for comin' over! Come on in, sit down. Can I get you a drink? Tea? Hot chocolate? Something cold? Sorry, I don't have a coffee maker... but I made some treats for us - take one (or three!), enjoy...


OK, readers! This post is all about YOU! I'm away for the weekend, so I'm hoping the interesting stuff in this post will be in the comments. After coming back from Rita Lihaven's memorial yesterday, I've had a lot on my mind, but one of those things is that, even though I only knew her for a short time, she is a woman who has inspired me, and who I look up to very much. In the comments, I'd love to hear about a person in your life who has had a big impact on your life, who has inspired you, who you look up to. Who are they? Why have they been influential?

Thanks for coming over! Feel free to stay as long as you want. If you run out of strawberries, there are more in the fridge! ;)

_______________
PS. What looks like a gross drippy stain beside my door (yukkers!)? Yeah, that's a windchime.